Nanowrimo: The Final Insult
Daniel Swensen
And so another National Novel Writing Month comes to a close, and with it, the caffeinated fever dreams of would-be novelists everywhere. As they say on the Captain Crunch boxes: millions will enter, hundreds will win. Dozens will produce something worth reading, and of the several who actually dare to show it a close friend, a choice few will get honest feedback… like the kind we see in today’s comic.
It’s been a long, fun, harried Month of Writing the National Novel, and (in case you were wondering) I am, in fact, “a winner.” I want to thank the loquacious Matt Kessen for filling in for me all through the month of November, and telling you all more about Godzilla than you ever thought it was possible to know in the first place. I’d like to thank the Academy and the little people — Billy Barty, Warwick Davis, David Rappaport. I’ve got a million of them. Tip your waiter. Try the veal. Look for a return to form in December, where “form” is “Dan slack-assing through another month of cut-rate bloggery.”
See you again next year, Nanowrimo!
December 1st, 2006 at 4:05 pm
Throughout this month, I’ve been avoiding asking a personal question, but I can’t hold it in any more: What exactly is Dan supposed to be? He looks like the geeky brother of something in the Monster Manual 2.
December 1st, 2006 at 4:06 pm
I should let Matt field this one, but he’s the Loch Ness Monster, basically. In a period outfit!
December 1st, 2006 at 4:43 pm
That captures the flow of a nanowrimo novel perfectly!
December 2nd, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Congratulations on finishing! I have to admit, the last week my temptation was to cut-and-paste “lorem ipsum” into my novel several times to make up the last of my word count. Usually I gain steam towards the end of something. This time I went out with a whimper.
December 2nd, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Hey, at least you finished — that’s what counts! Congratulations to you, too.
December 2nd, 2006 at 1:51 pm
In order to create Dan’s character, I presented him with a number of head-designs. One was human, one was bigfoot, one was a dog made of thumbs (which we agreed was actually gruesomely horrifying), and two were the Loch Ness Monster. Dan picked the Nessie with the horns - Nessie is often reported with horns, which I here chose to depict as the external gill-structures found in some young eels and amphibians. For the body, I presented a Nessie body, and various costumes of historical European nobility. Again, Dan picked.
I will admit that I was worried that the outcome might be a bit confusing, but “the geeky brother of something from Monster Manual 2″ is actually just about perfect, from where I sit.
December 2nd, 2006 at 4:35 pm
Indeed; being a former D&D player and geek, that was intended more as compliment than criticism. Thanks, Rev. Matt; I’m frightened to say that I found that backstory strangely fascinating, much like Godzilla month